Non-Sewing Quilting Adventures

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Quiltmouse

OK, went to the Dentist this AM for Root Canal – Part 2.  I walked in not hurting, but walked out hurting. Crying face

So not really feeling up to sewing today.  But there are a couple of Quilting Activities that I’ll tell you about.

First thing is an Online Blog Tour which is promoting the soon to be released Quiltmaker 100 Blocks, Vol. 6.  This publication will have 100 new blocks designed by 100 quilt designers and will be available on November 13th on Newsstands and in Quilt Shops.  Each day from November 5-9, a list of designers’ blogs will be posted and you can pop over and see the block they designed.  There will be give-a-ways on Quiltmaker’s Blog as well on the Designers’ Blogs, and you can be eligible by leaving a comment. 

So if you want to check out the Designers & their Blocks, head over to the Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Vol. 6 Blog Tour.  Fix you a nice cup of tea, hot chocolate or coffee and browse the participating blogs.

The second event is the MD-VA-DC Quilters’ Quest, which is a shop hop of 10 local (ok, not so local) Quilt Shops located in Maryland & Virginia which will take place Friday, November 9th through Sunday, November 18th.

2012-QQ

This will be a fun time.  It is impossible to drive to all of the shops in one day – of course you need to schedule time to shop!  The shops are in Gaithersburg, Hagerstown, Mt Airy, Catonsville, Towson, Annapolis & La Plata, MD, plus 3 more in Great Falls, Warrenton & Winchester, VA.

DH & I break it down to 3 days – Eastern Loop (La Plata, Annapolis, Towson & Catonsville, MD), Central Loop (Great Falls, VA & Gaithersburg & Mt. Airy, MD) & Western Loop (Warrenton & Winchester, VA & Hagerstown, MD).  It will take us about 8 hours each day, which includes driving, shopping & lunch. Several shops have scheduled bus transportation for groups.

Each store has door-prizes, free quilt patterns, Shop Hop Fabric designed by Jinny Beyer, special quilts & projects & more. 

If you complete the entire Quest, you will be eligible for some very nice prizes.

SomePrizes

 

Hopefully it will be nice weather and we will have fun spending some ‘quality car time’ together! Here’s the tote that we will get if we get to all of the shops & will save us 10% whenever we bring it with us to shop at a participating store until the 2013 event.

If you are in the Northern Virginia/Maryland area, this is a fun activity.  If SuperStorm Sandy hasn’t entirely blown away the leaves, you will get some beautiful fall scenery as you drive from store to store.

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Happy Halloween!

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Quiltmouse

The Rain & the Wind of Hurricane Sandy & the Nor ’easterner have moved out leaving the weather of the recent Indian Summer only a memory.  Our Thoughts & Prayers go out to those recovering from the Devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy. We were spared, but the damage covered a large area of the East Coast especial Delaware, New Jersey & New York.

A few years ago, on Halloween, we had just a few Trick-or-Treaters, but in the past several years the number have increased.  It seams the neighborhood has gone through a transition.  There are now a growing number of families with babies & young children.  It is fun to watch the parents walking their little ones all dressed up going door-to-door for their treats.

Here’s a picture of our friend, Alec, Trick or Treating – He’s using one of the Candy Corn Trick or Treat Bags that I posted about here.   He’s moving fast, but you can see his Candy Corn Bag is nearly full!

2012-10-31-Alec Trick or Treating - Candy Corn Bag

Wishing our Grandson, A.L., a fun Halloween!  Because we live so far away, we will miss seeing him dressed up for Trick or Treating.

Hope he enjoys the package we sent him and all the goodies in it.

Tomorrow – It’s November!  Where did the year go??

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Sewing & Quilting Activity

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Quiltmouse

Halloween Pillowcases – This time of year there are so many fun novelty fabrics – Halloween, Fall/Winter, Thanksgiving, Christmas & more.  Pillowcases with these bright fabrics can bring smiles to young & old alike.  Think I’ll make a couple. Wonder if Aiden Lee would like one?

2012-10-26-HalloweenPillowcases

 

Ta Da!!

 

 

 I hope a little fella I know will like his pillowcase, but I’m not sure who will get the other one.

Wonder what I’ll make with this fabric?

Thanks to my Thursday Hand Quilting Group for sharing some of their scraps.  I now have 14 fabrics.  I am going to make a 12-1/2” Block (unfinished size) with these 43 shapes – that’s a lot of seams.  I will have to work very hard to have accurate seams and keep my sizes right as I go along. 

2012-10-26-CutFabric-43pieces14Fabrics

This should be a pretty block. The colors are bright and cheery!

Posted in Holidays, Quilting, Sewing | 1 Comment

Busy Day in the Kitchen

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Quiltmouse

Not exactly Hurricane Preparation, but Friday morning I started a batch of Greek Yogurt, and put a Turkey Breast in the Slow Pot.

My Turkey Breast – I spritzed the inside with EVO (Extra-Virgin Olive Oil), then sprinkled my Texas Rub. I adjust the Rub Recipe I found at Cooking Light website a bit, adding Poultry Seasoning, Sage and sometimes Italian Seasonings, as the mood leads me. Smile Then I stuffed the cavity with Onion & Apple Slices, & Celery Stalks. After putting the Breast into the Slow Pot, I repeated the process – EVO, Texas Rub, Celery, Onion & Apples. Finally, I added 1/2 cup Apple Cider to the pot, and set it on High. My slow pot has a variable setting from 1 to 5 so I set my Slow Pot on #5.

2010-10-26-SloPotTurkey-Start_thumb[1]

After about an hour on High, I switched the Slow Pot to 3-1/2 for another 4 hours.  It wasn’t quite dinner time, so I then turned it down to 2 to keep it warm until we were ready to cut it.

2012-10-26-SloPotTurkey-Cooked

You can see the ‘pop-up timer’ has popped, but I did check for doneness with my meat thermometer.  Doesn’t the rub give it a nice “browned” look? I think we will be eating Turkey for the next several days!

2012-10-26-SloPotTurkey-CuttinginProgress

I also made Yeast Rolls – but this was a different Recipe.  It was Awesome Bread Machine Yeast Rolls, but I also found the same recipe on the Betty Crocker Website. This recipe was less rich then the last one.  This one had water instead of milk.  There was only 1 egg in this recipe while the last one had 2 eggs.  And most importantly, this recipe had 2 Tbs of Butter but the other one had a whole stick of butter (8 Tbs).

 

2012-10-26-YeastRolls-Recipe2

Because there was less liquid (due to 1 less egg & less butter) today’s recipe said it would make 15 Rolls, but I got 17 Rolls.  The consensus was that both recipes were good, but the other recipe was better/richer – more ‘melt-in-your-mouth.’  (DUH!) As you can see by the picture above only 9 were left after dinner. Doesn’t look like anybody turned them away!

The Greek Yogurt is in the final stage – Draining.  After incubating the heated milk with the Yogurt Cultures all day it is actually yogurt.  But for it to become Greek Yogurt it must have some of the Whey drained.  I usually allow it to sit in the colander & cheesecloth for between 45 minutes to an hour.  My goal is to drain out 32 oz of Whey, which in turn gives me 32 oz of Greek Yogurt from 2 quarts of Milk.

2012-10-26-Yogurt-FinalStage

The Whey will be used to make Oatmeal for breakfast.  I haven’t found out exactly how you figure out what the nutritional value of homemade whey & Greek yogurt is, but they started from 1% milk.  Other than 2-3 Tbs of Greek Yogurt used as starter, this does not have any artificial or natural additives.  So 1/2 cup of Whey + 1/2 cup of Greek Yogurt is the nutritional equivalent of a glass of milk

So here is my evening snack – finishing up the previous Greek Yogurt along with some Sugar-Free Homemade Spiced Applesauce with a sprinkle of Cinnamon-Sugar on top,

2012-10-26-Yogurt-Applesauce-Snack

Posted in Family, Food | 1 Comment

What Do You Do When “FrankenStorm” Approaches?

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Quiltmouse

Hurricane Sandy has crossed into the Atlantic.  The Forecasters are predicting that it may be a Hurricane Category 1 when it hits the East Coast and their best guess as of Friday Morning is that it will make landfall Sunday evening/Monday morning somewhere around Eastern Maryland/Delaware/New Jersey.  Add into the mix, there is a Cold Front approaching which will become a Nor’ Easterner that is expected to be here about the same time we will be having the western side of Hurricane Sandy.  They are calling this convergence a Super Storm or nicknamed “FrankenStorm.”

The DC area rarely gets a direct hit from hurricanes, but does frequently get some affects – wind, rain & power outages.  We were in Charleston, SC, in 1989 when Hurricane Hugo hit, so we are always a bit on edge when we hear a hurricane is coming.

So, yesterday, I got gas in the car.  Mel is heading out to get gas for the generator & propane for the grill.  His other ‘Honey-Do’ list contains things like clean-up outside, tie down yard items and check out the Generator.

Hunker Down & Be Prepared!

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